I am almost open-mouthed at the Mail on Sunday's scoop that Jacqui Smith has claimed £116,000 of taxpayers' money for her "second home", which actually turns out to be her main family home in her Redditch constituency (Conservative gain). We know it's her main home, rather than a second home because her husband (who she employs as her parliamentary assistant at £40k a year) and her two children live there. The children go to local schools.
During the week Jacqui Smith stays at her sister's house in London. Surely it is the rent she (presumably) pays her sister which she would be entitled to claim back from the taxpayer? She uses as her defence the fact that she spends more nights in London than at her constituency home, even though a spokesman admits she arrives in London on a Monday morning and leaves on Thursday evening, meaning she must spend only three nights a week there. "She doesn't count the nights," says the spokesman. Oh, that's all right then.
The other defence which she is using is that it has all been cleared by the House of Commons Fees Office. That is no defence. As Guido points out, they trust the word of "Hon. Members" that they are telling the truth about their second homes.
Ms Smith has some questions to answer.
UPDATE: As Oliver Drew points out in the Comments, the MoS article also makes clear that she had a grace and favour home offered to her. If she had taken it up she would not have been able to claim the second home allowance. So she decided to keep it in the family.
Graphic Hattip: Guido
61 comments:
Sickening
Tsk, she could be discovered snorting coke up her back passage whilst fellating a dwarf, all paid for by the public purse and still nothing would come of it. Labour are the ultimate self-regulating body. 12 years of corrupt practises and not one cold body.
I hope her sister has been declaring these earnings to Mr Taxman.
....uh, and told her Mortgage company that she has let part of her property.
Hello, is that the BBC? Are we expecting any more snow?
Sister's.
They can take our freedom but they will never take our apostrophes.
Don't you just get the feeling that these Labour has-beens and never-weres know the game is up and Brown is leading them to oblivion so they are just taking as much as they can while the going is good?
"Spliff" - as she is called over on Guido - is probably one of the more obviously useless Cabinet Ministers but there are many, many others. Now is the time to expose them all.
people who live on glass houses...
in too :)
Most of the people in the Labour Party know full well that they're heading for total oblivion at the next election. This is why they're doing as much as they can to get as much money as possible before it happens. Should help our Home Secretary before having to sign on for the dole next year, won't it?
She shouldn't survive this. If the Tories have any courage whatsoever, they will do everything they can to get this woman out of her job. But they won't - cos they've had more than their fair share of thieves in their party too. Derek Conway, for example...
"Most of the people in the Labour Party know full well that they're heading for total oblivion at the next election"
Careful, careful...you don't want to piss off potential voters , do you?
It could all HANG on the LibDems - know wot I mean?!
;)
canvas said "Careful, careful...you don't want to piss off potential voters , do you? It could all HANG on the LibDems - know wot I mean?!"
To think the direction the next government takes could be decided ultimately by Nick "I've slept with 30 women" Clegg makes the blood run cold. Even in the Grim Reaper...
I have only just worked out that Canvas was making a joke. How very embarrassing for me.
Dear Mr Reaper,
More a play on words than a joke. The real joke was on an earlier thread, when Ms Canvas said she was interested in Postman Pat as a potential Prime Minister. Now that was hilarious!
If the Wintertons and Mr and Mrs Balls can get away with it, why should we have any great expectation that the Home Economics Secretary will not brazen it out?
After all, a shameless ability to argue black is white appears to be her only talent.
Indeed the Wintertons of Pork Farms do set the bar very high in this arena.
Oink, oink!
Then they have the nerve to critisise the bankers.
They just have no integraty just greed.
It make me feel sick on what is going on.
An MPs "main job" is in Westminster, representing their constituency in parliament. They should be paid a decent wage so they can afford to have their main home in London. In addition, they should receive a payment for renting, (not buying), a small flat in their constituency so they can be there to do their, secondary, constituency job.
If they choose not live in London, then they can use that wage to pay for a, presumably cheaper, home in their constituency - or anywhere they like, frankly, it's their salary - and the rent allowance, plus the balance can then cover the cost of renting in London.
What Ms Smith has done is a straight fiddle because she has a G&F apartment available to her. She only did not take that so she can continue to claim the full expenses for her "second home", when clearly it is not. She has hoodwinked the Fees Office.
Odds on Charles Clarke back as Home Secretary?
An ex-apprentice said her only talent is "to argue black is white".
NOW we've got her - that is RACIST !
Alan Douglas
I have a feeling that by tomorrow this will be all over:
'Nothing to see here ladies and gentlemen, move along, move along'.
This sort of troughing is normal practice amongst the Labour front bench entitled elites, in fact they can't for the life of them understand what all the fuss is about.
Anyway, I doubt the MSM in the main will run hard with this and Sky & the BBC will pass over it as quickly as is possible. Remember the old days, when if anything like this was found every paper would be full of it for days, whether it was correct or not. It was always 'sue us if you dare'.
Not now....what changed?
The former MP for Windsor, Michael Trend, got "a little confused" over claiming allowances, and his local association forced him the stand down at the 2005 election.
Perhaps Miz Smith's local association will.....
Oh, hang on a minute. She'll be out on her arse at the next election whether she stands again or not, so they don't need to bother.
WV: mology. The study of cows? How approriate in this thread.
"She'll be out on her arse at the next election whether she stands again or not, so they don't need to bother.2
I think you will find that they are planning to move her to a safer seat. Is anywhere safe for them?
"Don't you just get the feeling that these Labour has-beens and never-weres know the game is up and Brown is leading them to oblivion so they are just taking as much as they can while the going is good?"
I'd agree, but I don't think this is such a new thing. All politicians seem to come with a sense of entitlement that'd shame a Roman Emperor...
Andrew Marr show newspaper review totally ignored the Mail on Sunday splash about this story. Shocking.
"I have only just worked out that Canvas was making a joke."
Kind of an easy one to overlook, GR... ;)
Presumably HMRC will be checking that her sister has declared her income from this.
The £116k is since 2001 - she's only been Home Sec. since 2007 so here Government houses weren't available until then. The fact she has to pay £1800 a month shows the state of the rented sector.
Personally I can't see why they didn't build flats into to Portcullis House or maybe one of those floating barges.
however, the real scandal are MPs who live within easy commute of London who claim second homes in London. Of which there are many.
Main Residence 'test' should be stipulated in the same way that tests for tax status are set.
Very simple.
No of nights spent per calendar year spent at each residence. 183 nights=main residence.
On this test Ms Smith has ripped off the tax payer.
They're almost all "at it" Iain. All parties.
Which "it" is getting the best out of the T&C for their employment, within their own decision-making frameworks and the histories of that employment. JS was not always a cabbie. But I'd be surprised if these arrangements have changed.
I'd prefer to (continue to) stay with rellies and contribute to the costs of so doing than in a G&F home myself. The main home/second home thing is a well-known weakness in the system. And I really would hate to think what the tax avoiding bankrupt and ruthless trader Guido would get up to where he offered the opportunity.
Come to think of it I'd be interested to hear what you would come up with Iain, should you be elevated.
But back to JS. Yes, at first sniff it does whiff a bit. But for Guido to be throwing stones at this residency/domicile issue is hilarious.
Word Ver = Knifie.
"Were he", sorry. On a point of information Nick Clegg has stated he slept with "far less than 30 women" not "with 30 women" as is so often tediously and erroneously claimed.
Houdini was an amateur. She hasn't broken any rules has she - just the spirit?
Kippers Dickie
No, there is vehement denial that Spliff will be moved. When this was suggested on PB, there were very strong statements that ZNL does not do chicken runs.
We shall see.
Sadly, it's all par for the course for our pampered elite of MPs and their families - I'm quite sure there have been many other Ministers in the past who did this sort of thing. No wonder so many people are keen to be in the House!
Imagine if these standards of investigation had been applied by the Tory press (I am allowed to fantasise!) to Tory ministers during the Thatcher years. The public would have been sickened by many a tale of corruption and decadence.
0800 788 887
Ring it. It's our duty...
Isn't this quite simply fraud?
why aren't the police on the case, and on the Ballses among others.
Forget Commons 'Rules.'
A stinking dirty nasty mess. A disgrace. She should resign.
They know its a fiddle but then expect to have moral authority over us when it comes to ruling and lording it over us.
They stand up in Parliament sounding off in their pompous way, telling us what is good for us, telling us what to do and what to think, whilst all the time they ae cheating the system for all its worth themselves.
Smith is a useless odious tw@t ! I for one am FURIOUS!
BUT --- how HOW can she get away with paying her husband 40K (to write anonymous letters to the papers) if wossisname had to give back money and was suspended for paying his son????
Well done Despairing Liberal shoot the messenger. Why is it Liberals have to always defend socialists?? I wonder ...
But don't worry - if we are going on a trip down memory lane we won't mention Jeremy Thorpe- or Paddy Pantsdown.
But to be honest Despairing my only reason for posting is to mention my word verification -- "garden'
I am sad that way.
She is a parasite, and all round disgraceful individual. I can't wait until she loses her seat.
"But back to JS. Yes, at first sniff it does whiff a bit. But for Guido to be throwing stones at this residency/domicile issue is hilarious."
Guido isn't taking taxpayers' money.
And another thing ....
The point about the grace and favour home is it already comes with police protection. Living with her sister as she does its costing a fortune to provide extra ound the clock police protection.
And there's more.
Gordon's new friend and hoped for saviour, President Obama had to reject his health secretary Tom Daschle because of a tax fiddle and I think a second proposed minister had to resign because of some expenses scam.
So has Gordon less moral fibre backbone than Obama?
Trevorsden - I am not "defending socialists" as you put it - I am merely pointing out that they are all (or at least, a fair number across _all_ parties) at it. I don't exempt the LibDems, I have no special brief to defend any bent ones that emerge from the hallowed portals of the esteemed Hises.
What I am attempting to highlight is the usual generous measure of humbug involved in Tory naming and shaming of Labour MPs trouserings.
It made me laugh you raising famous Liberal nutjobs (and I see the humour in it, because Thorpe obviously was both bent and bonkers) - don't even get me started on the long, long list of Tory crooks, fiddlers and general n'er do wells. We will be here quite a while.
Grim Reaper said... “Most of the people in the Labour Party know full well that they're heading for total oblivion at the next election...”
Yet more triumphalism. It’s not over until the fat returning officer sings. “Total oblivion” seems a premature call to say the least.
But I note her majority in Redditch is 2,716 - which suggests she is personally vulnerable.
Chris Paul, take your nasty, sleazy allegations on to your own miserable little blog. And get three people to read them. I'm not here to provide you with a platform for your inane, libellous rantings.
This sense of entitlement business was revealed in spades with Mandy in the great Mandy’s house scandal. He mixed so much with billionaires, city types and sundry Tory sleaze-bags socially that he felt he was entitled to be able to keep up with them in lifestyle. And he was on a minister’s salary too. Then (of course) he became a European Commissioner - a job with even more perks and salary.
It behoves MPs to be reminded that for most of their electorate, their salary and perks look pretty damn good. And it’s not as if there’s a shortage of people waiting in line to do the job - which in the case of back-benchers is nothing much more than a ‘whipped’ social worker (no offence meant to social workers).
I’m not for a moment saying MPs don’t work hard but it’s their choice to do the job. Nobody makes them.
You are quite right Mr Liberal about various 'nutjobs' in various parties.
Libdems actively conspired with Blair to carve up the anti Tory vote in 1997. So I really don't have much time for them constantly trying to minimise the damage for labours current sleaze-balls. BTW I thought the way Blair subsequently stitched up the libdems over PR was a quite funny.
Now its Labour who are in power. Labour who made great play (with libdem self serving assistance) over 'sleaze'. Now its labour - in a whole host of quite spectacular ways (so many you have probably even already forgotten Abrahams scandal) - who are mired in a depth of sleaze which is quite breathtaking.
So lets play the ball thats right here in front of us shall we. Especially when this particular incident and the lords fiasco is massively more serious than the Conway rubbish.
Pity I did not read the remarks but if Chris Pauls efforts are anything to go by - this story has labour rattled.
It's far from clear to me that any rule has been broken. If it has then complain and get an adjudication. We're hardly in Spelman territory here are we?
I read from the story that it seems Jacqui Smiths landlady sister is a BBC journalist. Can we expect the case to be properly reported?
And of course does it come as any surprise that we find the Labour Home Secretary's sister working as a BBC journalist.
Jimmy
"We're hardly in Spelman territory here are we?" -- huh? I think we are well into it and beyond.
The Home Secretary ignores a grace and favour house with its inbuilt police protection so she can rake in the expenses living with her sister's spare room and costing the taxpayer another cool 200 grand in extra police protection.
And you say no rule has been broken/
Do not make me laugh.
What happened to the rule about being 'whiter than white'?
Labour are really desperate here.
"I read from the story that it seems Jacqui Smiths landlady sister is a BBC journalist. Can we expect the case to be properly reported?"
Could we excpect it to be, even if she were not?
Clearly she is fiddling expenses no matter how she tries to dress it up. She is most definitely not "whiter than white".
If this had been a Tory, the BBC would have been all over it like a rash.
@ Chris Paul
"But back to JS. Yes, at first sniff it does whiff a bit. But for Guido to be throwing stones at this residency/domicile issue is hilarious."
So , remind us, Guido is MP for which constituency?
Clown
Trevorsden (3.29), to some extent I agree that LibDems got a broken nose from Labour after helping B.Liar to get in back in '97. Paddy is a very good bloke but sometimes errs on the side of trusting too much. I think we/they have learned the lesson. However, there was also so much dismay with the dregs of the Major government that many local activitist simply informally worked together, so in that sense there was no "betrayal".
Also of course many people thought Blair would be more centrist than he actually was. But the disappointment we had was not what you infer - Blair was much too _right wing_ for us. He is a Tory and a neocon and it's just pathetic to try to smear him and Brown as some sort of Stalinist lefties.
Of course, the alleged Blair desire in those days to have a "government of all the talents" was never anything more than a hybrid of Campbell scheming and bambi-fruit-loop longing by Jug Ears for a Third Way. Which also of course turned out to be so much toffee bananas, because the Clinton/Blair "Third Way" was in fact more and more aggressive dismantling of the state, privatisation and marginalisation of the interests of the poor and the third world.
@ trevorsden
Exactly so. The point is that 'rules' are meaningless - any reasonably competent lawyer or accountant can find a way around 'rules'. But the concern here is the moral obligation of La Smith to us all. If we are to elect people on the basis of their adherence to 'rules' then we can kiss goodbye to any form of decency, integrity and honour within Parliament. Perhaps we already have.
One other point: These 'Ministers' ought to be setting an example for their colleagues - and for the nation as a whole. Perhaps they are.
So, it's fair game. We can do anything - just as long as there are no 'rules' forbidding it. Where do we start?
Fair minded comments Despairing but how can you be "a Tory and a neocon"
A Tory is an 'oldcon' - or whatever Latin is the prefix for old or established.
Neocons are former Democrats who have deserted their party's foreign policy line.
I am afraid I cannot rally believe in Labour and LibDem 'activists' voluntarily working together. You all hate each other too much.
We both know there was a carefully co-ordinated scheme between Lab and LibDems. And of course there needed to be - because if the electorate had realised that then it would have changed the voting dynamic.
Meantime you had better get your retaliation in first because the last shot in Browns locker will be some kind of electoral pact with the LibDems.
Sorry to be here again but I have just noticed that Speaker Martin has mysteriously kept back details and costs of MP's overseas trips in connection with The British Council.
Martin has form on expenses of course - but who on earth thinks that this decision is in the interests of parliamentary democracy.
With this culture from the very top isn't it no wonder Smith thinks she is all above board?
trevorsden,
What is "inbuilt police protection" when it's at home. Do they brick up Babylon in the insulation cavities?
DespairingLiberal
He is a Tory and a neocon and it's just pathetic to try to smear him and Brown as some sort of Stalinist lefties.
You have managed to cram more complete ignorance into one sentence then I thought possible.
Please try to give yourself a much needed education.
Find out what a TORY/Conservative is actually supposed to be.
( It does not mean, everything you personally hate, or indeed everything the BBC has brainwashed you into believing is simply hateful, without qualification.)
Work out what a Neocon is, and which American Political Party they originally all came from.
Find out what a Stalinist actually is, and what GB has claimed very honestly to be, all of his political life. Which is a MARXIST socialist.
Find out what Stalin always claimed to be, which was also a Marxist socialist.
Work out what left wing actually means.
( It does not mean everything you personally like, or indeed everything the BBC has brainwashed you into believing is simply wonderful, without qualification. )
Then wash your mouth out with soap and water and please try very hard indeed to never comment in total and complete BBC inspired ignorance ever again.
I consider MYSELF to be a 100% conservative. May I clearly state that there is nothing and I do mean absolutely NOTHING, either Gordon Brown or Tony Blair has done for 11 years I have liked, agreed with, or even liked the sound of. Seriously not one single thing whatsoever.
BTW
Do me a favor.
When you finally do find out what a conservative is actually supposed to be. Please tell David Cameron and the rest of his MP's, because I seriously doubt any of them have the slightest real idea either.
Jimmy said...
It's far from clear to me that any rule has been broken.
The committee that posts under the pseudonym of "Jimmy" just doesn't get it.
It's not about the rules, it's about public perceptions and a growing distaste for sleazy Nulabor apparatchiks who think that normal standards of ethics and decency don't apply to them.
Atlas, where in Sam Hell does Brown claim to be a Marxist? Was this in some fantasy of yours? Which other Marxists do you know who have repeatedly practised wholesale privatisation?
Nice post Atlas - but slightly spoiled by your last comment - I suspect you will find David Cameron's political compass to be somewhat to the right of Willie Whitelaw who worked quite happily with Margaret Thatcher.
Well, it's Monday morning, and almost no mention of the whole Jacqui Smith Troughing incident.
MSM has ignored it, and the Sky newspaper review has been told to 'Move on'
Anyone surprised?
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